At-home urine test detects over 90% of bladder cancers in NHS trial

A clinical trial of the GALEAS Bladder urine test, involving 964 patients across seven NHS departments, demonstrated a 92.2% detection rate for bladder cancer. Developed by the University of Birmingham and commercialized by Nonacus, the non-invasive test checks for 450 DNA mutations. It successfully identified 100% of muscle-invasive cancers. While not a complete replacement for invasive cystoscopies, triaging patients with this test could reduce urgent procedures by 730 per 1,000 patients, significantly easing NHS waiting lists.

GALEAS Bladder trial results

• ▪A clinical study of the GALEAS Bladder urine test, involving 964 patients across seven NHS urology departments, was published in the journal European Urology Oncology on September 2, 2026.
• ▪The GALEAS Bladder urine test checks for genomic material shed into urine by looking for more than 450 DNA mutations associated with bladder cancer across 23 genes.
• ▪The clinical study of the GALEAS Bladder urine test was led by the University of Birmingham and diagnostics company Nonacus.

Cancer detection accuracy rates

• ▪A negative GALEAS Bladder test result was associated with a 99.3% probability of the patient not having bladder cancer.
• ▪The GALEAS Bladder test detected 100% of the 17 muscle-invasive bladder cancers and 35 of 36 high-grade cancers diagnosed during the clinical study.
• ▪The GALEAS Bladder urine test detected 71 out of 77 bladder cancers, representing a 92.2% detection rate among nearly 1,000 trial patients.
• ▪For patients with non-visible blood in their urine, the GALEAS Bladder test identified 100% of bladder cancers with a 100% negative predictive value.

Cystoscopy workflow reduction

• ▪While the GALEAS Bladder test is not a replacement for cystoscopies, it helps clinicians identify and prioritize high-risk patients for urgent procedures.
• ▪Using the GALEAS Bladder test to triage patients was estimated to result in 730 fewer urgent cystoscopies for every 1,000 patients compared to testing everyone.

Test commercialization by Nonacus

• ▪The GALEAS Bladder test was originally developed by the University of Birmingham with funding from Cancer Research UK.
• ▪Under a licensing agreement, Nonacus commercialized the GALEAS Bladder test and pays a portion of the revenue back to the University of Birmingham and Cancer Research UK.
• ▪The GALEAS Bladder test is already being used within NHS pathways in England and Wales, with further clinical sites adopting the test.

NHS bladder cancer diagnosis

• ▪Only 8% of patients entering the urgent NHS diagnostic pathway for hematuria in the clinical study were ultimately diagnosed with bladder cancer.
• ▪Around 10,900 new bladder cancer cases are diagnosed annually in the UK, where more than 300,000 invasive cystoscopies are performed each year.

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